In my last post, I noted that NOLA is not particularly known for its beer bars.  There are a handful of decent beer bars and only one or two that have noteworthy beer lists.

The poses a predicament for the local beer geeks. Frequenting the same bars over and over can get rather old fast. Especially, when your palate craves something off the beaten path (like unique, crazy cult beers).

So what does one do in such a situation?

Well, one could always build a huge L shaped bar with 6 taps attached to a lounge with a new age jukebox in one’s own home. And that is exactly what the Vice President of NOLA Brewing Co. — Dylan Lintern — has done.

At first, I didn’t really understand what he meant when he said he had a bar in his house. After all, many people have small personal bars in their homes. No big deal, right? Little did I know that his bar rivals some of the best hole-in-the-wall bars that I’ve ever been to — size wise. And beer wise? It f*cking blew my mind.

Technically, the best beer bar in NOLA is not a public bar.

Sorry kids.

I met Dylan along with most of his brew team from NOLA Brewing Co.  at The Avenue Pub. Upon discovering each others inner beer geeks, we immediately jumped into a serious beer conversation that involved lots of “name dropping” and random banter. I told him about some of the beers in my collection that I was traveling across country with and he mentioned a few from his personal stash. We made plans to meet-up the following night to taste through some of our collections.

The same evening I met Dylan, I also befriended another local NOLA beer enthusiast named Matt Austin. Matt had just recently returned from a beer themed road trip up in the North East. Naturally, I invited him to join the “potluck” beer tasting with Dylan and myself.

Matt Austin & The Wench

Before meeting up at Chez Dylan, Matt took Shana and I on a little tour of the French Quarter where we partook in many of the typical French Quarter tourist activities. We had cafe au lait and beignets at Cafe Du Monde, ate some authentic creole cuisine & gumbo at the Gumbo Shop, stopped by Pat O’Briens and Preservation Hall, walked around Jackson Square and up and down Bourbon St.

Personally, my French Quarter highlights included getting my palm read and fortune told in a voodoo shop, buying the coolest pirate hat in the world in a Vampyre shop and seeing Ken dolls dressed up in drag at the Gay Heritage Tourism Bureau. Good times.

After a few hours of sweating through the French Quarter, we were obviously thirsty. Since nothing beats the heat like some frosty beers, Matt and I each packed up a few beers from our collections and headed on over to Dylan’s place in Uptown NOLA.

Words can not describe the scene we walked into there. Empty beer bottles lined the entire wall and filled up each and every shelf. The collection was Cique Du Soliel impressive — my jaw almost locked from being dropped so long. Equally impressive was Dylan’s ability to remember each and every story about all of the beers he had drank.

In addition to Dylan, Matt and myself — we were also joined by Dylan’s older brother Derek as well as 3 other friends.

The tasting started out with Cigar City Brewing Co. Guava Grove — a Belgian Saison-style ale that encounters secondary fermentation with as well as extended aging on Guava puree. Cigar City is based out of Tampa, FL with limited distribution throughout the state of Florida. They have developed quite a cult following amongst us whom have had the opportunity to taste their beers. I was lucky enough to attend one of their events while living in Tampa.

Although Guava Grove is a Belgian farmhouse style ale, the Belgian yeast aroma and taste was virtually undetectable. Without knowing what it was, one would never venture to guess it was a Saison-style. Nevertheless, Guava Grove is a DAMN tasty beer — nice and sour (just the way The Wench likes it), medium-bodied and very refreshing.

Much to my surprise and utter delight, Dylan pulled out Russian River Brewing Co.’s Pliny the Elder next. Pliny the Elder is considered by many to be a “cult beer.” It received the Gold Medal in the Double IPA Category at the 2006 World Beer Cup as well as the Gold Medal at the 2005 GABF. According to Dylan, Pliny the E is one of the most balanced beers in the world. And I cannot argue against that statement. The aroma hops were beautifully potent. I want to make an entire line of bath products with that aroma. Heck, I want to fill up a bath tub with that beer and bathe myself in it.

Other beers in the lineup included: Avery Brewing Co. SIXTEEN Saison (a highlight of the evening), Magic Hat Brewing Co. Wacko and Lucky Cat IPA, Erie Brewing Co. Railbender Ale, Thomas Creek Red Ale, Pike Brewing Co. IPA, Piraat, Founders Centennial IPA, Jolly Pumpkin Oro De Calabaza (a favorite of mine), Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery Milk Stout, Lost Coast Brewery Raspberry Brown and Boulder Brewing Co. Mojo Risin’ and maybe a few others that have escaped me.

In addition to Guava Grove, I brought the first beer from the Cigar City Brewing Humidor Series — the cedar-aged Jai Alai IPA. Cigar City uses 6 different hop varietals, with Simcoe hops only being used for dry hopping. The Simcoe aroma was definitely sexy, yet not as seductive as Pliny the Elder (which I nursed for quite some time). The cedar added an interesting dimension — which was well recieved.

I also brought Fantome Hiver — a seasonal winter ale from Belgium. It was surprisingly sour and one of my favorites of the entire evening. The most dissappointing beer of the evening was Mikkeller It’s Alive — a very limited (brewed only once) Belgian Strong Ale that was supossedly crafted with wild yeast. My particular beer might have gone bad (doubtful), but regardless — it was tasted and then left unfinished.

Although Pliny the Elder was a highlight of the evening, there were two other beers that took the cake.

One was HaandBryggeriet Haanbakk. This particular beer is the first one of its kind from HaandBryggeriet. And not just that, it is also the first sour beer using wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria in Norway in over a hundred years. Ryan busted this out from his collection, but I must admit that I also have it in mine. This beer was brewed in September of 2006 and has been aged in oak barrels until its bottling day on March 22, 2008.

HaandBakk was phenomenal. Absolutely out of this world. It was sour, yeasty,sweet and  fruity. It was medium-bodied, well-carbonated and had notes of wood, sour cherries, apple cider and balsamic vinegar. It a word — Haanbakk was SULTRY. And with an ABV of 8%, that little tiger will creep up on you. But damn, she tastes soooo good.

Naturally, being the wenchalicious Wench that I am, I had to whip out a gueuze on the boys. If you read my blog religiously (ahem, hint hint), then you are probably aware of my preoccupation with THE GUEUZE. I am what one may consider a gueuze evangelist. I love to bring it to parties. Unfortunately, it rarely ever recieves the royal reception that it deserves. Normal people, don’t like gueuze. True story.

BUT, there are those of us who can appreciate the complete an utter insanity and chaotic method of spontaneous fermentation. These beers are not for everyone — agreed. Yet, I cannot deny my obsession with the style. Gueuze is my quintessential celebration beer — my Champagne.

For this occasion, I brought out the very lovely 3 Fonteinen Oude Geuze. And it was ridiculously amazing (yes, I know I need more adjectives in my vocabulary).  It had the typical barnyard, sweaty saddle, funky nose that you except in a gueuze. And the taste? Uber funky, very tart with a slight bitterness. Man … I don’t know what it is about this style, but I’m hooked.

And although the majority of people in the room frowned upon the gueuze and gladly let me finish off their pour, I was able to convert one beer geek into the dark world of lambics.

Overall, the night was one of my most memorable beer experiences. There is nothing better than enjoying super sexy beers with fellow beer enthusiasts.

Wench & Dylan

NEXT STOP –> Austin, TX. Stay tuned.

Cheers!

Question: What do a pirate hat, a Mardi Gras mask, a tarot card & palm reading, voodoo & vampyre shops, Christmas lights, drag queen Ken dolls and “whipping out the gueuze” all have in common?

Answer: My recent trip to New Orleans.

Allow me to elaborate. Recently, I decided to move to Northern California — from Florida. Now if you do the math correctly, you will see that Florida and NorCal are at relatively opposite corners on opposite coasts of the country.

Lucky for me, my whole entire life fits into a tiny little Dodge Neon. Which essentially means that I can move anywhere pretty damn easily. So it was only natural that I turn my cross country move into a cross country road trip extravaganza.

There were several options for routes across country. After contacting friends in various cities, I chose to take the southern most route because it had the most potential.

The first stop was New Orleans.

This was my second time visiting the city. The first time I was with my parents and younger sister. We took a Cajun themed Christmas “cruise” up the Mississippi River from NOLA to Natchez in one of the only paddleboats still operating on steam left in the country — The Delta Queen. It was an 8 day voyage that consisted of a Bayou tour, plantation tours, lots of Cajun & Creole food, endless Zydeco music and much alcohol consumption. Disclaimer: My family enjoys taking weird and educational vacations. It happens.

Naturally, my first time in New Orleans consisted mostly of hitting up all the main tourist destinations –> Cafe Du Monde for cafe au lait and beignets, Pat O’ Briens for hurricanes, Aunt Sally’s for pralines, Preservation Hall for live music, Bourbon Street for some debauchary voodoo etc…

This time around, though, it was imperative that I hit up New Orleans local style. Prior to arriving, I contacted a fellow beer blogger and good friend — The Beer Buddha. If anyone would know the best local NOLA watering holes with the best beer selections, it would be The Beer Buddha.

The Beer Buddha & The Beer Wench

After talking with the local beer geeks and enthusiasts, it became apparent that NOLA is seriously lacking in the beer bar department.

According to the local beer fanatics, THE beer bar of beer bars in NOLA is The Avenue Pub. The owners are extremely knowledgeable about beer and, as a result, they get first pick on the best beers that get brought into the area.

Naturally, this is where I met The Beer Buddha. Much to my surprise and delight, almost the entire crew at NOLA Brewing Co. also came out. The night began with a delicious NOLA Brewing Co. Blonde. It was extremely refreshing after a 10 hour drive through the hottest and most humid states of the south. My next beer of choice was Harpoon Leviathan Series Imperial IPA followed by North Coast Brother Thelonius and another Leviathan IPA — all on draught.

The Harpoon Leviathan Series Imperial IPA was absolutely delicious. Lots of sweet pine, citrus and grass in the aroma as well as the taste. Light to medium bodied, virtually no malt flavors. It was very clean — my kind of IPA.

I also got to sample the infamous Beer Buddha appetizer –> Blue cheese stuff apricots wrapped in bacon. And let me just tell you, they were freaking out of this world.

The night took a turn for the awesome when one of the locals offered to take us to an underground, hole-in-the-wall, cult bar — Snake & Jakes Christmas Lounge. Snake & Jakes is a garage turned bar located in a residential area of uptown NOLA. It is distinctively marked by a giant “Christmas wreath” adorned with random Christmas lights. When the lights are on, the bar is open.

Needless to say, the night ended here. And what happens at Snake and Jakes — stays at Snake & Jakes!

Stay tuned for my follow up post — “Underground” in NOLA Day TWO.

Cheers!